NEWPORT - A Vermont inmate has filed a lawsuit alleging the amount of time Newport prisoners are kept in their cells constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Inmate Robert Rideout said in his filing with Vermont Superior Court in Newport that a population management system, which is implemented in several of the prison units, sometimes causes inmates to be locked into their cells for up to 18 hours a day.

Documents obtained by the Burlington Free Press from the Vermont Department of Corrections as part of a public records request shows that some inmates spend 16 hours a day locked in their cells but still have access to educational activities, jobs, programming and outdoor recreation.

Rideout said in a recent phone interview that the amount of time he was locked in his cell was having negative effects on his physical health, and that he and other inmates feel the amount of time in locked cells is excessive. After filing his lawsuit, Rideout was moved to another unit in which inmates spend more time in open areas.

Rideout linked a recent hostage situation in the Newport prison to strife caused by the amount of time prisoners are "locked in;" authorities found no evidence that was the motive.

"The inmates are sick and tired of being locked down 18-and-a-half hours a day," Rideout said in one of several interviews. "They're minimum and medium custody, and they're being treated like closed-custody inmates."

Assistant Prison Superintendent Mike Lyons told the Burlington Free Press during a prison tour that the system is used for population management since up to 72 inmates are often overseen by one corrections officer.

Suzi Wizowaty, executive director of Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform, expressed concern about the length of inmates' confinement to cells.

"Caging human beings at all or even for long periods of time encourages humans to act like the creatures we cage," she said.

Defender General Matt Valerio said he understands the Department of Corrections is trying to manage its population but does not see how limiting inmates' time in open areas helps with rehabilitation.

"One of the big things about surviving in prison, or getting through the ordeal, is to be able to have consistency of routine," he said. "When people are designated to general population and then they are getting rotated through situations that are not anticipated in general population, I can see how that can be very troubling to them."

Valerio said he does not think the conditions created by the system in Newport constitute "cruel and unusual punishment," but he agreed that confinement for long periods of time could be detrimental to inmates' mental health.

"I know that some inmates are not happy with that situation," Valerio said. However, he said, "The concept of cruel and unusual punishment in a corrections setting is a very high bar to meet.”